Lee grateful to be part of epic era

Noting that his career spanned one of the most successful epochs Australian cricket has known, it says much about Brett Lee that his most treasured memories recall moments when triumph fell agonisingly short and when friendships took precedence over fierce rivalries.

Brett Lee and Andrew Flintoff share their memories from the thrilling second Ashes Test at Edgbaston in 2005 

While self-deprecatingly recognising he’s previously teased with “more comebacks than Rambo”, Lee drew fittingly drew the final line under his cricket life today without really knowing where that end point lies.

However, that uncertainty is the result of the Sydney Sixers yet-to-de-decided journey through the current incarnation of the KFC Big Bash League rather than any further prevarication on his part.

Should the Sixers final hit-out come against cross-town rivals the Sydney Thunder next week, then that will be his last match of competitive cricket.

If the Sixers make it through to the BBL finals, then his tenure will be extended by a game, possibly two.

The best of Brett Lee for the Sydney Sixers

But the 38-year-old fast bowler found no such uncertainty when he was asked at today’s retirement announcement at the SCG as to his fondest recollections of a journey which – given the nature of the fast bowler’s trade – stretches a remarkable two decades.

The first of those, his favourite spell of bowling, was perhaps surprisingly not his 5-47 in his first innings as a Test bowler in 1999 even though he counts the receipt of his Baggy Green Cap before that match in Melbourne as the realisation of a boyhood dream.

Nor was it a hat-trick during the 2003 ICC World Cup in South Africa on his way to helping his team lift that prized trophy.

Rather it was the 1-68 he picked up from 19 frighteningly fast overs on a flat, dry, final innings pitch at the sun-baked Queen’s Park oval-cum-velodrome at Port of Spain during Australia’s subsequent 2003 tour of the West Indies.

Having missed a fairly straightforward caught and bowled offering from local hero and West Indies superstar Brian Lara as Australia hunted a series-securing victory, Lee turned on one of the great if unsuccessful one-on-one bowling battles as Lara launched himself towards yet another century.

On a deck from which no bowler other than leg spinner Stuart MacGill could extract anything, Lee had Lara jumping and flailing like a trout on a hook as bouncer after bouncer whizzed over his helmet or past his nose.

“I think he was on ninety-odd for about an hour and it was pretty hot, and I ran in bowling 155kph plus and I just could not get him out even though I tried so hard,” Lee recalled today.

“After that day he (Lara) came in and said that was one of the most exciting times he’s had on the Test field.

“To me it’s those challenges that excite me more – of course I love seeing the stumps fly and the ‘keeper taking that epic catch but sometimes it’s the battle within the battle.

“And when you’re in that moment and you’re out there playing against the world’s best, whether it’s Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara, you can’t see anyone in the field, you can’t hear anyone in the crowd – you can’t hear anything.

“The flipside is when you’re having a shocker you can hear every comment and you read every (news)paper as well.”

Image Id: ~/media/54AFAAD65F5D4664A3A73512714FCE98

However, the memory that will sustain him throughout his post-cricket life – whenever that begins – is one hewn from a series that Australia did not win.

Indeed, the only Test series during a span of more than seven years at the height of Lee’s powers (between 2001 and 2008) in which he was subjected to the taste of defeat.

And the moment that remains imprinted in his memory, and is indelibly cast in the history of the game, is the fulcrum upon which the famous 2005 Ashes series in England turned.

The series in which England came from a Test down to seize the slimmest of Ashes victories on a captivating final morning at Edgbaston and then went on to reclaim the urn in circumstances that led to the rebirth of interest and pride in Test cricket in its country of birth.

Lee’s role in that epic campaign has personal significance because it marked his return to Test cricket after more than a year on the outer.

And on that morning at Edgbaston, he was a central player in the most compelling drama that ended with England’s hero Andrew Flintoff taking time away from his team’s euphoric celebrations to share a moment and a poignant image with his defeated rival.

After Australia’s tailenders Lee, Shane Warne and Michael Kasprowicz had defied probability and an uncharacteristically hopeful nation’s expectations to snick, slog and scamper their way to within three runs of a Test win only to stumble a step from the finish.

“My favourite Test series has definitely got to be the Ashes in 2005,” Lee recalled today.

“What that did for cricket, what that did for people being involved in cricket – you know bat sales (in England) went 68 per cent after that series I was told.

“Even though we lost that series the spirit in which it was played, the sportsmanship, the toughness.

“I’ve never played in a series that tough where I’ve got Andrew Flintoff bowling 95mph trying to kill me.

“I’m in there trying to survive and then two minutes later after they (England) finally win that game at Edgbaston we’re in having a cold beer together, having a chat and a laugh.

“To me, that’s what sport is about.

“It’s what happens behind the closed doors that probably you guys (media) don’t get to see a lot of.

“Yes. I’ve played as hard as anyone, I’ve always wanted to make sure I push that boundary as hard as I possibly can and when you walk over that white line it’s game on.

“But I’ve always enjoyed what happens after cricket and I’ve always enjoyed making friendships away from the game and that to me is probably worth more than playing the game itself.”